Linda Gromko, MD is a family physician whose husband, Steve Williams, received five Home Hemodialysis treatments per week beginning in 1/08. He switched to Home Peritoneal Dialysis in 1/11. Sadly, Steve died in April 2011 - one week after a leg amputation. Dr. Gromko's blog explores issues of treating Renal Failure at home, making the treatments more user-friendly, and supporting the all-important caregiver in the family on Home Dialysis.

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

ANNA Conference Felt Like Preaching to the Choir!

If anyone would have predicted ten years ago that I'd be talking to the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the American Nephrology Nurses' Association, I'd have thought them completely mad!

For me, nephrology was something I would learn "later." It seemed overwhelming in medical school. And when I would cover the Swedish ICU/CCU as a resident physician, I'd pray we didn't get called to a CODE in the NW Kidney Centers - those people were sick!But, now, having traveled with my late husband Steve Williams through the precipitous tumble into Acute-on-Chronic Renal Failure, the home hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, and his litany of other medical adventures, I feel oddly at home. The kidney nurses are my colleagues, and I will be forever grateful for the hours of assistance they gave me and my husband.

Should you be attending the International Dialysis Conference in Seattle in March 2013, join me for my remarks on 1) Caring for the Home Dialysis CarePartner, and 2) "What My Husband's Kidney Failure Taught Me About My Own Profession."Take care,Linda Gromko, MD